1. Creating the perfect logo design
—
12 essential steps for successfully
managing logo design projects
2. The path to a perfect logo design is
rarely smooth. It takes hard work, bags of
confidence and a steely determination. There
really isn’t a standard template for pulling it
off: every single logo project is different, just
as every client is different. That said, having
a clearly defined, yet highly flexible, process
can help you get there. It helps you and the
client know what’s coming next and means
that everyone understands what’s expected of
them. The following advice is based on many
years of experience, working on logo design
projects, both good and bad. It’s by no means
foolproof. But use these steps as your starting
point or as a sanity check as you go along, and
you’ll be on the right track.
Because, although every
memorable logo has a great
idea at its heart, that’s only part
of the back story. Have you
ever stopped to wonder what
triggered that Eureka moment?
How many other great designs
the client rejected? Or how you
could create something that
successful yourself?
You’ll know when you’ve seen one: a super
smart logo that jumps off the page and stamps
itself firmly in your consciousness. The sort of
beautifully designed logo that makes designers
wish they’d created it and clients wish they had
one like it. A logo that looks brilliantly simple but
was anything but simple in its making.
Creating the perfect logo design 2
3. Without a brief and some
proper upfront thinking you’re
always going to be on the back
foot. Whether that’s a simple
one-page design brief or a
highly sophisticated, probably
expensive, brand strategy, you
need a clear purpose. Because
without a strong framework
to build your brand marks on,
they’ll crumble and fall down.
Without some agreed criteria to judge
your designs against, it will come down to
someone sticking their finger in the air and
saying… “I’m not sure why, but I like that one”.
If there’s a brand strategy report you can
get hold off, you’re off to a good start. With
any luck, this should provide an intriguing
insight into the organisation, its competition,
positioning, tone of voice, brand story and
essence – tons of great stuff to get your
creative teeth stuck into.If such a document
doesn’t exist, you’ll have to do some legwork
yourself. Talk to your client (and preferably
get more than one person’s perspective)
about who they are, what they stand for, how
they see themselves and how they’d like their
customers to see them.
With or without a brand strategy document,
it’s essential to start with a clear creative brief.
Not just a few notes jotted down in the course
of a phone call or meeting. But a precise
outline of the scope of work, what makes the
organisation different and maybe even some
early direction on how they can be singled out
from the crowd. Write this up yourself based
on early conversations with your client, or ask
them to write it. In either case, get them to
sign it off so that everyone knows where they
are and what to expect. Now let’s get started,
we’re working for a company called Generico.
Creating the perfect logo design | Start with a strategy 3
Because
smart thinking
can change
how the world
works
Intelligent
Curious
Geeky
Visionary
Objective
Brave
We make
smart logistics
software that
solves complex
problems
Generico
Why we do what we do How we do what we do What we do
Inspired Logic
Generico
Commitment. Flexibilty.
Transformation. Accountability.
Intelligent. Curious. Geeky.
Visionary. Objective. Brave.
Essence
Values
Personality
Start with a strategy
—
1
Brand strategy provides a central idea
and blueprint on which great logo marks
are built. These are often developed as
a collaboration between the client, the
strategist and the designer.
4. Creating the perfect logo design | Give it some meaning 4
2
Give it some meaning
—
Look at the world’s successful
brands: in most of their logos
you’ll find some sort of meaning.
Something that represents or
expresses their brand idea.
Something that shows their
personality. Something that
conveys what they believe in.
Give your designs some meaning
and you’re off to a flying start.
The best way to achieve this is with a bit of
organised creative thinking (if that isn’t a
contradiction in terms). Start by extracting
concepts, ideas and keywords from the brief
and clustering them into overarching themes.
Map out the cliches, symbols, icons and well-
established visual language for each theme.
Look for crossovers, scope for development or
the potential to create something distinctive.
As mentioned, our fictitious company is called
Generico, a forward-thinking business, full of
super-smart people who challenge conventional
wisdom. It creates intelligent logistics software.
It makes complicated problems simple. But
Generico has hidden in the shadows for too long.
Following some serious investment, it’s time for
it to take its products to market and become a
more commercial beast. This project is all about
building a brand from scratch, not re-designing
an existing one. It’s a brilliant opportunity
to express what it’s all about. And a great
opportunity to flex our creative muscles.
How do we make Generico shine?
Human
Generico
Strategic
Innovative
Secure
Trusted
Empathy
People
Con�ident
Intelligent
Direction
Flexible
Visionary
Productive
Control
Focus
Honest
Creating a logo requires insight and intuition.
While insight can be achieved through
gathering and interpreting information,
intuition is more closely aligned to
experience and gut feel.
5. Creating the perfect logo design | Consider different types of logo 5
Consider
different types
of logo
—
3
A logo in itself is not a brand. The term logo
is short for logotype, graphic designer speak
for a custom-lettered word. Logos is Greek
for word. You can see why the term ‘logo’
caught on - it’s dead catchy. But what people
are usually referring to when they say ‘logo’
is a symbol, emblem, monogram, initials or
any form of graphic device that represents a
company or its products and services. A logo
(or brand mark) is the flag behind which pretty
much every organisation stands. And, just like
people, they come in all sorts of shapes, sizes
and varieties.
In the early part of a project it pays not to limit
your thinking to one particular approach. Be
adventurous and try them all. What fits? What
works? What doesn’t? Would this idea work
better this way, or that way? Have a go at
coming up with ideas for all of the following
categories, even if you have a hunch about
what the client will go for. Remember that
there are no hard-and-fast rules, so explore
combinations of categories and crossover
between them: sometimes that’s where you’ll
find the best ideas, and clients can make
unexpected decisions, so test the water.
Abstract symbols
Can you invent a symbol that
conveys the brand’s big idea?
Emblems
Is there a shape or holding device
with which the company name is
inextricably connected?
Wordmarks
Can the brand personality
be conveyed using purely
typographic means?
Pictorial marks
Could an immediately recognisable
image be simplified or stylised?
Letterforms
Could the company’s initial
(or initials) create a unique
branding device?
Logo’s come in all shapes and sizes. From
wordmarks to image-based marks, there are
no hard and fast rules about which approach
works best. Experiment, but be sure the
ideas fit the brief.
6. Creating the perfect logo design | Look at the bigger picture 6
4
Look at the
bigger picture
—
Before unleashing your creativity
on logo ideas, it’s a good idea to
know where your logo fits into the
bigger picture. Get to grips with
the brand structure of the company
you’re working with.
What’s the fundamental framework of the
organisation? Does it have sub-brands or a portfolio
of different products and services? How do these fit
together? Is there a master brand, or several separate
brands? Should different offerings feel like they are
part of the same family? Or distant relatives?
Brand architecture, as it’s known, might not sound
like the most exciting aspect of logo design, but
tackling this now can spare your blushes down
the line. And while this structure, along with its
associated internal politics, should have been sorted
as part of the strategy work, your job as the designer
is to make sense of things visually.
Sketching out the brand framework, before jumping
on your Mac, is always a good idea. It can really help
to make sense of things, and clarify your thinking.
Broadly speaking, the brand architecture of
most organisations falls into one of the following
categories, or is a hybrid of them.
No brand architecture is exactly the same, and no
one architecture is better than another. Each has its
own advantages and disadvantages. And nothing
is set in stone - it can be appropriate to develop the
framework over a period of time, as circumstances
dictate. There’s an infinite amount of scope for
variation within each system, so experiment and
don’t be afraid to offer up several alternatives to
achieve the end goal.
Getting to grips with a company’s structure and brand
architecture will ensure the logo designs are future-
proofed, and bring consistency to a clients portfolio
of services, products and communications.
Branded
The organisation owns
a number of brands or
companies that appear
to be unrelated. For example,
Vauxhall, Chevrolet,
Cadillac and Opel.
All General Motors brands.
Monolithic
The organisation uses one
name and visual identity
system across its entire
portfolio. For example, Virgin
Atlantic, Virgin Media, Virgin
Active and Virgin Money.
Endorsed
The organisation owns a variety
of brands, each of which is
endorsed by the group name.
For example, Shredded Wheat
by Nestlé, KitKat by Nestlé and
Nescafé by Nestlé.
7. Creating the perfect logo design | How the mind works 7
How the mind works
—
5
Research tells us a lot about how the human brain processes
sensory information. It’s mostly common sense, but worth
serious consideration when designing brand marks. For
instance, we tend to acknowledge shapes before language,
which might be worth bearing in mind if you’re creating a logo
that needs to compete in a particularly congested sector.
Symbols can become incredibly recognisable through
exposure, so much so that some organisations have dropped
their name entirely. Nike and Apple are two brilliant examples
of this. Of our senses, sight plays the most significant role in
our ability to recognise and remember a brand. So it’s worth
thinking about how the brain will process your logo designs:
Our brains are hardwired to process
distinctive shapes before colour and
words. Symbols can become so instantly
recognisable that organisations are able
to drop their name altogether.
Type
Our brains take more time to process language, which
means that content comes third in the sequence behind
shape and colour. This becomes particularly relevant if
you’re working with a complex brand mark.
Shape
Shapes come first. Reading is not necessary to identify
shapes, but identifying shapes is necessary to read. The
brain acknowledges distinctive shapes that make a faster
imprint on the memory.
Colour
Colours come second in our sequence of cognition.
Colour can evoke emotion and trigger its own association
with a brand, but needs to be considered carefully. Some
companies virtually own a colour.
1 2 3
8. Creating the perfect logo design | Generate lots of idea 8
6
Generate lots of ideas
—
The beginning of a new
project is really exciting: your
enthusiasm is at its strongest
and the possibilities are infinite.
At this time, the more ideas you
can come up with, the merrier.
But how do you stop things
rumbling on forever?
Where do you draw the line?
It’s important to set yourself clear goals and
a proper definitive deadline. For instance,
commit to generating 10 type-only word
marks in an hour, 20 letterforms in two hours,
or as many abstract symbols as you can in a
day. Then stick to your goal religiously.
If your ideas hit the buffers and you’re
struggling for inspiration, ask yourself lots
and lots of questions. Could the brand idea
be expressed by… exaggerating something?
Taking things literally? Saying the opposite?
Using double meaning? Using a metaphor?
Changing perspective? Comparing the brand
to something unrelated?
Use a pen, use a mouse, use whatever
medium you work fastest in. Quickly translate
your ideas onto the screen or page as soon as
you can. These are sketches, and it’s about the
idea at this stage, so avoid too much fiddling
and tweaking. Always stop when you said that
you would. Set aside time to properly review
everything you’ve come up with, make a
shortlist for development, then move on.
Word marks
Abstract symbols
Emblems
Pictoral marks
Letterforms
Concentrate on ideas initially, not the
execution, and be sure to know when to
stop. Then apply quality control, narrow
your focus and work up your preferred
logo designs for presentation
9. Creating the perfect logo design | Check out the competition 9
Check out the competition
—
7
It’s no good coming up with an
absolutely brilliant logo if it’s
virtually identical to one of your
client’s closest competitors. Or,
worse still, one of the world’s
biggest and best known brands.
Do your homework. Check out the brand’s
rivals. Check out the whole sector. What
symbols do they use? What fonts do they use?
What colours do they use? Know your stuff,
do some research, look for opportunities in
the marketplace and create your own space.
By all means spend some time hunting the
logo blogs and checking out agency websites,
but don’t copy what’s already out there.
Be inspired by it. It’s great to be aware of
what’s fashionable in the world of branding,
but always aim to present designs that are not
only distinctly different from the competition,
but simple and timeless.
Much of the ground work will have been
done during the research and brand
strategy stage. But it’s still worth doing a
final search to ensure your perfect logo
isn’t going to land you in hot water.
10. Creating the perfect logo design | Stretch your designs to extremes 10
8
Stretch your designs to extremes
— Brand marks live in an
increasingly complex, multi-
channel environment. In
layman’s terms, this means that
how your logo works as an app
icon on your smartphone or
in your twitter feed is just as
important as how it looks on a
business card, on the side of a
bus or behind the reception desk
in your client’s office building.
How will this brilliant design of yours work in
a tall skinny space? How will it work in a wide
shallow space? Does it still work in black and
white? Could it be stitched onto a garment?
Could it be screen printed on a balloon?
Answer questions like these early on in the
design process and you can save yourself
a world of problems later on.
At this stage of the project, it might also help
to create some rough mockups. Brand marks
rarely exist in a vacuum and there are tons
of resources out there to help you achieve
mockups quickly and effectively. Whether
you choose to create designs for stationery,
signage or social media, mockups can help
you and the client visualise and evaluate a
logo’s potential beyond the design in isolation.
Choose a small selection of the most visible
applications and see how the front-running
designs work on them. Think about potential
production issues, and remember to include
digital channels, such as social media icons.
11. Creating the perfect logo design | Judge your shortlist properly 11
9
Judge your shortlist properly
—
Sometimes gut feel is a great
judge of the way to go. But
often, one person’s gut feel
can be another’s gut wrench.
Finding the way forward can
often be tricky.
Clients frequently lack the confidence to make
big decisions and as humans we struggle to
be objective and get past what we simply like
or don’t like. You can sometimes find yourself
stuck between a rock and a hard place when
opinion is divided within a project team.
Aim to filter your client’s selections, feedback
and development suggestions back through
the criteria set out in the creative brief. Always
remember what the project is aiming to
achieve and focus discussions around that.
If in doubt, use a scorecard to help judge
designs objectively. Your scorecard should
include some of the following questions:
You might not always choose the winning logo
this way but it helps focus minds on the task
in hand. This is also a good point to remember
that there’s way more to branding than just
a logo. A brand mark can’t do everything
on its own. But it can be filled with value by
everything from photography and typography
to tone of voice and staff behaviours.
Aid your own decision making through a
clearly defined criteria against which the
client can also judge your designs. This will
avoid design by committee, and ensure the
right choices are made.
Brand scorecard
Does it support the brand idea?
Is it distinctive and memorable?
Is it different from the competition?
Will it work across different media?
Will it stand the test of time?
Total
Logo A
5
3
3
2
Logo B
3
2
1
Logo C
2
3
5
12. Creating the perfect logo design | Listen to feedback 12
Listen to feedback
—
10
Once you’ve created a
shortlist - ideally this should
be no more than a few ideas -
canvas opinion from as many
people as you can.
What does your mum think of it? What does
a five-year-old make of your sophisticated
designs? Is it easy to read? Does it look
friendly? Does it look a bit like a dog? Have
they seen anything similar? If there’s time,
run some workshops, focus groups or an
online survey with the target audience. Listen
to everything people say, not just what your
fellow designers and the client think. You’ll
probably hear a lot of random stuff that you
can disregard, but if lots of people are saying
the same thing, no matter how uncomfortable
that might be, you need to tackle it.
Listen to feedback constructively. Have
the confidence to discount personal
preference, such as I don’t like purple.
If a particular issue or concern is raised
more than once however, take note.
13. Creating the perfect logo design | Refine, refine, refine 13
11
Refine, refine,
refine
—
Once the final logo design
has been selected, it’s easy to
relax and take your eye off the
ball for a moment. But the devil
really is in the detail.
Double check that any curves in your brand
mark are super smooth. Makes sure the
spacing between letters is spot on and that
each letter is perfectly proportioned to the
rest. Double check them again, well before
releasing it into the wild. Zoom right in and
check for glitches. Print it out really large
and stare at it for a bit. Scale it down to 100
pixels and see what happens. You probably
won’t get another chance to change it once
it’s gone, so try and get it right first time.
Then once you’re finished refining, finish.
And stop twiddling.
Step back and take a long, hard look at
your masterpiece. Ensure it’s legible in all
colour variants and sizes. Check the spacing
between characters and the relationship
between the symbol and type.
14. Creating the perfect logo design | Create robust master artwork 14
12
Create robust
master artwork
There’s nothing worse than
seeing your beautiful, slaved
over, masterpiece wrongly or
badly reproduced. You can
help prevent this happening
by producing a comprehensive
and well organised set of
master artworks.
We’ll leave detailed brand guideline
documents for another day, but a few simple
rules and the correct file formats should
help prevent mistakes and aid consistent
reproduction. Covering all the common g
raphics file formats - EPS, JPG, CMYK and RGB -
will stop the inevitable email requests and make
sure users are not left to their own devices.
Create master artwork for every eventual
application and channel, from full colour to
single colour and from digital to print. Test all
file formats before releasing final artwork for
implementation.
12 - Create robust master artwork
Logo.eps
Logo Artwork
Logo.png
Logo.psd
Logo.svg
Logo.tif
Logo.eps
Logo.jpg
15. Creating the perfect logo design | Conclusion 15
Conclusion There’s no sure-fire way to
produce a brilliant logo - you
need to tailor your process to
suit the particular project and
your own preferred way of
working. Some logo designers
generate dozens of rough ideas,
while others prefer to hone a few
ideas and work up more fully
developed prototypes for each.
At the end of the day, it’s the idea that
counts. No amount of sheen will compensate
for a lack of fresh, creative thinking, and a
simple rough sketch won’t stop a great idea
shining through.
While following these steps alone won’t
guarantee sign-off on your favourite idea, this
is a pretty robust way of planning your next
logo design assignment. It should help you
feel more confident about the process and
provide the flexibility to suit almost any type of
client. It should also help your project stay on
track and focus minds on the end goal. Always
remember that if all logo design projects
were the same, life would be boring. Every
one of them is unique, with different aims,
aspirations, expectations and budgets.
It’s worth repeating that a logotype alone is
not a brand. Spotify will still be Spotify with a
different logo design. But, along with other key
ingredients in the branding mix – language,
colour, typography, illustration, photography
– logos are a key component of the visual
wrapping that makes brands recognisable to
the outside world.
16. Fabrik adds industry to
creativity. A hands-on
place, where everyone
works on the shop floor,
we focus on quality and
craftsmanship.
Proud of our bias towards
making things, rather than
talking about things, we
welcome visitors to our
factory-floor. To arrange
a tour, please contact us.
Fabrik Brands –
98 Central Street, London
EC1V 8AJ United Kingdom
+44 (0)20 7336 1388
mail@fabrikbrands.com
www.fabrikbrands.com
